Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (or 'Jamaat' for short) is the largest Islamic political party in Bangladesh. It is also one of the largest Islamic parties in South Asia, the party was formed when Bengal was part of British India.

In 1947 East Bengal became part of Pakistan (East Pakistan) - and the Jamaat-e-Islami was divided into separate Indian and Pakistani parties. The Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh originates from the East Pakistani party. The Jamaat were against Bangladesh becoming independent from Pakistan as they thought it was against Islam. However the Jamaat were unable to stop Bangladesh becoming independent of Pakistan.

The Jamaat was banned after Bangladesh became an independent country and its top leaders fled to West Pakistan. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh also cancelled the citizenship of Golam Azam, the leader of Jamaat. Azam then moved to London, and other leaders moved to the Middle East. However Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in 1975 and army chief Ziaur Rahman seized power. Rahman allowed the Jamaat to be a political party again. Rahman also allowed Azam to return to Bangladesh as the leader of Jamaat.